Great Rivers Greenway seeks resident input by Oct. 31

St. Charles County, its municipalities and Great Rivers Greenway are working together to develop a coordinated greenway plan and resident input is needed before Oct. 31.

The project is part of Great Rivers Greenway [GRG] overall efforts to connect St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County with a network of greenways where people can walk, run and ride a bike. Already, 125 miles of greenways have been established. This project will guide the next phase of the public agency’s sales tax investment in St. Charles County greenways.

When complete, the St. Charles County Greenway Plan will include an updated greenway map with prioritized projects and partnership models for building greenways in the future.

However, to get to that stage, residents are asked to complete on online survey at greenwayplan.org. Since August, GRG has been collecting data in public spaces such as community and special events, food truck festivals, organization meetings and neighborhood events.

“We know this is important to people in St. Charles County and we want to think comprehensively about the connections across the county,” Susan Trautman, GRG CEO, said.

Project partners also will be gathering feedback from leaders in the areas of health, transportation, nature and economy to better understand their desires, concerns and capacities for greenway building and maintenance.

“We want to make sure we bring everyone to the table – residents, community leaders, business owners, public agencies, municipalities and other stakeholders – to develop a strategic plan for connecting St. Charles County with greenways [across the region],” Ryan Graham, St. Charles County parks and recreation director, said. “By working together, we can leverage existing and planned trail projects across St. Charles County to connect people to the places where they want to go. The more people who participate in this process, the better the final plan will be.”

Kate Uptergrove

Kate joined West Newsmagazine as its managing editor in 2012. She added managing editor of Mid Rivers Newsmagazine to her title in 2014. Kate came to the Newsmagazine Network from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she most notably served as the writer/editor of a variety of specialty magazines and sections, including Thrive, College Connection, Golden Age and The Workplace. Additionally, Kate has worked as a fundraising professional, aiding nonprofits across the country. She and her husband, Michael, have two dogs – a border collie named Linus, who competes with St. Louis Disc Dogs, and a chow-chow named Mingo.